Improvement in cloth-shearing machines



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UNITED STATES PATENT EETCEo AMASA VOOLSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTH-SHEARING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 43,878. dated August 16, 1864.

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that l, AMAsA WooLsoN, of Springfield, in the county of Windsor and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Machinery for Shearing Cloth and I- do hereby declare that the fol lowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will ena-ble others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Fignre l is a longitudinal elevation of the stationary and movablerests of acloth-shearing machine, with the appliances for producing` the automatic extension andcontraction, the covering plates being omitted to expose the said appliances-to'view. Fig. 2 isjaplan of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal elevation of the same, with the covering-plates in place. Fig. 5 is a side view of one of the inner feelers. Fig. 6 is a side view of a plate attached to the outer feeler on the right of the rest.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention is an improvement upon the invention which constitutes the subject-matter of my Letters Patent dated May 28, 1850.

The improvement relates to the appliances producing the automatic extension and ccntraetion ot' the movable or flexible rest.

The action of the mechanism for extending the rest is governed by what are termed feelers, and when these have been applied as described in my aforesaid Letters Patent from twenty to sixt-y of them have been used in a gang on each side of the machinest'or thc cloth to pass over. 'l` here have been two sources ot' trouble with these feelers, viz: iirst, the iilling up of the spaces between them with flocks and dust from the cloth, which necessitates frequent cleaning; and, second, the liability to breakage ofthe frames-which contain them, owing to the distance between the feelers being too small for a sufficient thickness of those port-ions of the frame between which the feelers are placed.

The object of my invention is to obviate these inconveniences; and to this end it consists, principally, in a novel mode of applying the feelers and combining them with the sliding bars which shift the movable rests, whereby two feelers at each side of the machine are made to effect all that has been accomplished with the larger number.

It also consists in a novel mode ot' combining two i'eelers on either side of the machine, to make them so operate that the movable rests are kept stationary, except when the edge ofthe cloth runs uneven.

1t further consists in the employment, in combination with the movable rests, of what I call slidin g covers, which cover up all of the mechanism by which the said rests are operated,except portions of the feelers, and which serve to lead the lists of thel edges ofthe cloth to the feelers.

A is the rest-frame, the upper edge, a, of which forms the stationary rest. b b are the movable or flexible rests, and c c and d d the sliding bars for shifting the said rests. These parts are all constructed and combined substantially as described in my Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to.

e e are the adjustable gage-bars, slotted at ff, and attached to the sliding bars c c by screws gg in the same manner as those described in my aforesaid Letters Patent; but these gage-bars, instead of having notches in them to be acted upon by the feelers for shifting the movable rests, have the feelers B B themselves attached to them. These feelerstwo on each side of the machine arelikethose described in my aforesaid Letters Patent, and arranged to vibrate vertically on a pivot, h, secured in a plate, li', which is attached rigidly to their respective gage-bar.

Figs. l and 2 of the drawings represent, in connection with the two movable rests, two different modes in which the feelers are made to govern the extension and contraction ot' the rest. As l prefer that represented on the righthand side, on account of its simplicity, I will proceed to describe it. The inner feeler, B that is to say, the one which first come; in contact with the edge of the cloth-has cnt in it a short concentric curved slot, i', as shown in Fig. 4, and dotted in Fig. 3, for the reception of a pin, t, which is secured to the inner side of the outer fecler, B. The catch-plate h has formed upon it two catches, jf and jg, one to enter the ratchet-like notches k in the up' per edge of a horizontal bar, D, which is attached toa slide, E, working in suitable guides l Z at the back of and parallel with the rest frame, and the other to enter the similar but reversed notches k2 in the lower edge of the said bar D. The slide E has secured to ita tongue, E', whichenters the groove of a cam, G, which is fast on a horizontal shaft, H, arranged in suitable bealings attached t-o the bottom ot' the rest-frame. This shaft has imparted to it a rotary motion from any suitable shaft of the shearing-machine, and the cam is thereby caused to produce a regular short reciprocating motion of the slide E and notched bar D. Any other means of producing this reciprocating motion may be used. When the edge of the cloth does not reach the outer i'eeler, B', the two feelers rest on the lower part of the frame A,thepin is at the top of the slot i', and the lower catch, j?, is within range of the notches h2 in the lower edge of the notched bar D, so that in the outward movement of the said bar with the slide E one of the said notches will pass the said catch, and the return or inward movement of the slide' will cause the notched bar to draw the catch-plate, the feelers, the gage-bar, and the sliding bars cd inward, and thereby cause the contraction of the rest. This operation is repeated, if required, withv every inward movement of the notched bar, until the inner feeler comes within range of thelist of the cloth, when the cloth, passing over and in'contact with the said feeler, lifts it up and brings its. upper edge in contact with theplate h', causing the pin il to move up in the slot i', and thus lift the catch-plate and outer fceler high enough to bring the catchj2 out of range ofthe notched bar, but not high enough to bring the upper catch, j, within range thereof, and the movable rest remains stationary. ln case ofthe cloth running off the feeler B again the said feeler drops, and with it the catchplate, thereby bringing the catch t7'2 again within range of the notched bar, causing the feeler B to be lifted, and causing the contraction of the rest, as before described; but in case ofthe cloth becoming wider, or its edge varying outward so that its edge Inns over the outerfeeler,B', the cloth passingover the latter feeler raises it and the catch-plate j still higher than they have been raised by the action of the inner feeler and until the upper catch, j', enters one of the upper notches, 7c', of the bar D, so that it is pushed outward by the next movement of the bar, carrying with it the gage-bar and sliding bars c d, and there by extending the rest. This operation is repeated, if required, with every outward movement of the notch until the outer feeler works clear of the cloth and leaves it upon the inner one, when the rest becomes stationary.

l will now proceed to describe the other mode by which the fcelers B B' govern the extension and contraction of the rest, and which is illustrated at the left-hand side of Figs. 1 and 2. These fcelers are applied and combined in precisely the same manner as those at the right-hand side but the pin z' is much longer, so that it extends some distance through the inner feeler, B, for the purpose to be presently the feelers apart and carry the pin z'. The.

plate li', to which the said feelers are attached, has rigidly connected with it a horizon tal ratel'ietA plate, I, which slides on the lower part of the rest-frame A, and on the u`p1' er surface v of which there are two parallel ratchets, m

and m', arranged at some distance apart, as shown in Fig. 2, the said ratchets being set in opposite directions. Attached to the recipro eating slide E or its equivalent, deriving motion from the cam G or other suitable means, is a double-headed reciprocating pawl, J, the head n of which lies on the ratchet-plate. One side of this head is formed to t the inner ratchet, in, and the other side to fit the outer ratchet, m'; but the space between the ratchets is wide enough to allow thehead n to work between the two ratchets without gearing in either. Above the pawl J there is arran geda hanging guide, K, composed of a thin piece of steel plate, straight for the greater portion of its length, but bent ataright angle at its outer end, as shown atp, in Figs. l and 2. This guide is hung on two pivots, q q, arranged in a line parallel with the fixed portion of the rest and supported by two small standards, q' q', secured to the bottom of the restframe A. The straight lower edge of this plate enters a notch in the back of the head a of the pawl J and forms a guide to the said head. The pin t' enters a slot in the bent outer end of the said plate. The pawl J has a spring, r, (see Fig. 2,) applied toits inner side, which exerts an outward pressure which tends to press the guide K outward and make it bring the head of the pawl into gear with the outer ratchet, lm', at the same time making it, by its action upon the pin t', hold down the feeler B'. When the edge of the clothcovers the feeler B, but not B', and the first-mentioned feeler is raised up with its upper edge against the plate IL', the pin c' presses back the hanging guide K to such a position that it causes the head n of the pawl J to work between the ratchets m m', leaving the movable rest on that side of the machine stationary. In case of the edge of the cloth ruiming oit' the fecler B and letting it drop, the pawlJ is pressed outward by the spring r and causedto engage in the ratchet m', and the reciprocating movement of the pawl is then caused to draw in the ratchet-plate, the feclers, the gage-bar, and

the sliding bars c d, and so contract the rest until the inner feeler comes back under the edge, when the said'feeler is again raised and the pawl moved back to its position between the two ratchets m m' or, in case the edge of the cloth running over the outer feeler, B', and lifting it up, as before described, with reference to the right-hand side ofthe rest, the pin z' is caused to press back the hanging guide K and make it press back the pawl into gear with the ratchet m, and the. ratchet-bar, feelers, gage-bar, and sliding bars c d are thereby moved outward and the rest extended until the outer feeler passes from under the edge of the cloth, when the pawl is brought back to its position betwen the ratchets. A single feeler might be used at each side of the rest, instead of tivo combined, as described, but this would be liable to the objection that the movable portions of the rest would never be perfectly stationary, and an unnecessary Wear of the ilcxible or movable rests and their appliances would be the result. L is a stationary cover, and M M two sliding covers, consisting of thin steel plates of suitable form in their transverse section, to enable them to it between the bottom of the rest-frame A and the back ot' the rest and cover in all of the rest shifting mechanism but the toothed portions of the feelers. These plates present smooth surfaces for the cloth to pass easily over on its Way to the edge of the rest. The sliding covers M are inserted under the ends of the stationary cover L, which always laps closely over a portion of them. They are made With slots t t, to allow the feelers to protrude far enough to catch in the cloth as it passes over them, and they are attached by pins u to the plates h', so that they slide in and out under the stationary plate as the feelers move in and out, and the contraction and extension of the movable rests are produced. The sliding covers M M lead the lists or edges of the cloth to the feelers.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. The attachment of the feelers to the gage bars-e e or their equivalents, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. The two feelers B B combined with each other by means of a slot, i', and pin t', and combined with the mechanism by which the shifting of the movable rests is eit'ected by means ot' a double ratchet, or its equivalent, substantially as herein specified.

3. The sliding cover M M', applied in combination with the feelers and rests, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

AMASA WOOLSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY GLossoN, AARON L. THOMPSON. 

